Democracy in the Making - How Activist Groups Form (Paperback)

Series: Oxford Studies in Culture and Politics

Winner of the 2012 ARNOVA Outstanding Book in Nonprofit and
Voluntary Action Research Award 2013 Charles Tilly Award for Best
Book from the American Sociological Association Section on
Collective Behavior and Social Movements "Democracy in the Making
offers a marvelous synthesis of sociological acumen and hope.
Kathleen Blee finds that while social activists often narrow their
visions of doable social change, they also can learn together and
take surprising new directions with unpredictable results. A wide
range of activists will recognize themselves in this book's
wonderfully fine-grained portraits of politics at the
grassroots."-Paul Lichterman, author of Elusive Togetherness:
Church Groups Trying to Bridge America's Divisions "This book is an
enormous breath of fresh air in an area that often recycles
concepts and perspectives. Blee offers a strikingly original
approach to grassroots activism that will substantially reorient
research in collective action and social movements."-Marc W.
Steinberg, Associate Professor of Sociology, Smith College With
civic engagement commonly understood to be on the decline and
traditional bases of community and means of engagement increasingly
fractured, how do people become involved in collective civic
action? How do activist groups form? What hampers the ability of
these groups to invigorate political life, and what enables it?
Kathleen Blee's groundbreaking new study provides a provocative
answer: the early times matter. By following grassroots groups from
their very beginnings, Blee traces how their sense of possibility
shrinks over time as groups develop a shared sense of who they are
that forecloses options that were once open. At the same time, she
charts the turning points at which options re-open and groups
become receptive to change and reinvention. Based on observing more
than sixty grassroots groups in Pittsburgh for three years,
Democracy in the Making is an unprecedented look at how ordinary
people come together to change society. It gives a close-up look at
the deliberations of activists on the left and right as they work
for animal rights, an end to the drug trade in their neighbourhood,
same-sex marriage, global peace, and more. It shows how grassroots
activism can provide an alternative to civic disengagement and a
forum for envisioning how the world can be transformed. At the same
time, it documents how activist groups become mired in
dysfunctional and undemocratic patterns that their members dislike,
but cannot fix. By analyzing the possibilities and pitfalls that
face nascent activist organizations, Blee reveals how critical
early choices are to the success of grassroots activism. Vital for
scholars and activists alike, this practical yet profound study
shows us, through the examples of both groups that flourish and
those that flounder, how grassroots activism can better live up to
its democratic potential.